eBay Buys Payments Platform Braintree For $800 Million

eBay announced that it is acquiring payments platform Braintree for about $800 million in cash.

Braintree powers payments on OpenTable, Airbnb, TaskRabbit and Uber, and will continue to operate as a separate service under PayPal.

“Braintree is a perfect fit with PayPal,” said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe. “Bill Ready and his team add complementary talent and technology that we believe will help accelerate PayPal’s global leadership in mobile payments. Together, we expect that PayPal and Braintree also will accelerate our leadership in supporting developers who are creating innovative solutions for next generation commerce startups.”

“PayPal was built on helping entrepreneurs grow great businesses online. I’m thrilled to welcome the Braintree team,” said PayPal President David Marcus. “With this deal I believe that we will accelerate our capabilities for developers, entrepreneurs, merchants and companies that are building the future.”

“The alignment with PayPal means Braintree can continue to push the boundaries of innovation while expanding into new markets with increased speed and confidence,” said Braintree CEO Bill Ready. “Our current customers and developer community can expect the same level of support and partnership they’ve always enjoyed, coupled with more resources.”

The companies expect the deal to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

Braintree was already in the news earlier this week, as Facebook partnered with the company (as well as PayPal and Stripe) on autofill billing info in mobile apps.